The Game Department (they now call themselves the Division of Wildlife Resources, but I still call them the Game Department) did a piece recently on catching blue catfish in Virginia’s tidal waters. In the article, they said that anglers should target blue catfish, first, because they are delicious to eat and, second, they are an invasive species and need their populations reduced.
It is largely the Game Department’s fault because they introduced blue cats (native to the Mississippi drainage) in Virginia waters. The Department thought that by stocking blues in the James that anglers would have the opportunity to catch some huge fish (huge as in 100-plus pounds). They were right about that but didn’t realize how well the blue cats would adapt in brackish water. They are now thick as thieves in the James, Rappahannock and other tidal rivers and they compete with native species.
I have had some success catching these critters and my first one came by accident. We were fishing off a dock in Urbanna Creek, just off the Rappahannock, where we generally caught a few stripers, a trout or two, white perch, some puppy drum and spot. I was using a Berkley GULP! Swimming Mullet, casting for stripers. I made a cast, set my rod down for a minute to get something out of my tackle box and saw the line shoot out. I set the hook on a nice fish – it was a blue catfish, and he immediately went in the fish box. He had eaten the GULP! bait just like a fresh bait, so I threw it out again and caught another and then another. The fish had come into the creek about an hour before dark and we found that we could catch them at that time on the scented baits or on cut shrimp.
We later filleted and deep fried the blue cats, and they were delightful.
Blue cats tend to feed on live baitfish and crustaceans and are not the typical catfish bottom feeders, so they have a delicious flavor. In addition, blue cats don’t mind colder water and can be caught even into late winter.
After that first year, we were able to catch catfish on every trip if we waited until late afternoon. The falling tides were best as they dislodged the baitfish from their cover.
So, use Berkley GULP! Baits (they make catfish flavors) or cut bait (cut shad is terrific if you can find it) and keep every blue catfish you catch – good eating and good for our resources.
